As I work with more teams on their post-COVID response, I’ve noticed that the repeatable patterns and powerful forces that serve us well during “normal” times are trying to sabotage our ability to respond to this crisis. We are in a unique time in business history where the processes and tools we have built are […]
Every senior leader I run into these days shares just how hard it is to do both the quality and the quantity of work that this crisis requires of us. We know that our pre-COVID strategy is no longer applicable (see article here), we know we need to be led by our product and R&D […]
I have been having conversations with dozens of business leaders of larger, more complex organizations recently to help them gain perspective, find traction, and form fresh insights. When we open these conversations, we always check in on how they and their firm is adapting – and at what stage they are in the adaptation process. […]
With little warning, the current pandemic has thrust many of us into the world of virtual work with almost no time to adjust. The outcome is that we’ve taken the processes we used in our face-to-face lives and directly mapped them to our dens and bedrooms. I’ve been on the phone and in the messenger […]
R&D Leaders: This rare skill will help you build a stronger team – but it needs your protection. I was early in my career and knew something didn’t feel quite right – but I was too fresh to know exactly what it was. It happened during my first posting with a global product group, where […]
Every airport is fundamentally the same. At its simplest, it’s a way to connect passengers to airplanes – and then put them back into the world once they’ve landed. Like Chutes and Ladders for adults, the airplane is simply a reality accelerator. You go in the airport door and come out somewhere new (averaging 400 […]
As the year comes to a close, we’re all preparing to turn the calendar page – and looking forward to a new decade. But the tools that got us here will not be effective going forward. And honestly? When we look back, we’ll wonder why we hung on to these old notions so long. You […]
How to avoid the coffin corner. When pilots were first probing the sound barrier, there were several aircraft that were inexplicably lost. As pilots and designers learned more about how air behaved when being pierced at the speed of sound, they discovered a small window of time where supersonic aircraft have no chance of recovery. […]
It’s a conversation that transcends industry boundaries. I’ve had it with financial energy companies, services leaders, manufacturing operations teams and consumer food firms. In fact, it’s one of the most vexing problems that face P&L leaders: with all the potential ways to apply resources to their plans, how do they best balance growth investments with […]
I had the opportunity to do a workshop recently with a group of senior executives where we spent some time thinking about this question: “what has changed to make the process of getting growth and change programs done in firms so difficult?” During this discussion, we talked about the dismal 12 percent success rate (see […]
